


Paranoia Fuel

by neverreallythere (orphan_account)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Chronic Illness, Cliffhanger, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Medical Procedures, Nightmares, One-Sided Keith/Pidge If You Squint, Team Feels, Temporary Character Death, Tiny Bit of Action/Adventure at the End, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:29:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18900217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/neverreallythere
Summary: The last thing anyone expects is their friend spontaneously dropping dead right next to them.





	Paranoia Fuel

**Author's Note:**

> I get déjà vu writing so if it turns out I stole lines from other fics or the show itself I apologize.

"Woo! That was _awesome!_ " Lance cheered as they exited their lions.

"We almost died" Pidge reminded, though she didn't sound very upset about it.

"Well, yeah, I guess, but did you _see_ that blast? And everyone was so quick. We did great today!"

"Lance is right. Everyone did a wonderful job. I'm proud" Shiro smiled. Keith smiled too. He was almost starting to feel like he belonged here, like he was part of something bigger.

There was a comfortable silence between all of them. It was broken by a soft exhale and a thunk.

Lance whipped around to see Keith laying limp on the floor. Pidge, who had been walking right behind him, almost tripped over his prone body.

"Keith?!" Lance knelt down to Keith's level, everyone's worried eyes on them. He froze in horrified realization, frantically searched for breathing or a pulse, then looked up at Shiro with tears in his eyes.

"He's- he's dead!"

For a second time stopped. Everyone just stared down dumbly watching Keith's lips start to turn blue and his pants become wet until Shiro roughly pushed everyone away to grab Keith and sprint to the infirmary, screaming for Coran.

~

 

 

Bright lights and loud voices assaulted Keith's senses when he woke. He could hear Shiro commanding everyone to back off and give him space. Give _who_ space? A metal hand rested on Keith's shoulder and his eyes followed it up to Shiro's concerned ones.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

" ...Wha happened?" Keith slurred.

"You- you don't remember?! You were walking there just fine and then you fell down and _died_ right in front of me. I stepped on your dead body!" Pidge shouted, right on the verge of crying.

"Pidge, easy." Shiro reached for her but she swatted him away.

"Wait... died? What do you mean I died? I'm right here."

"Well, clinically dead anyway" Pidge sniffled.

Lance piped up, a bit too cheery for the situation. "Coran and Allura have this super cool potion thing that can, uh- what does it do again?"

"It's more akin to a drug than a potion I would say; Altean science is not magic. Anyhoo, it constricts the vascular system to increase blood pressure in an attempt to reverse cardiac arrest. It's a good thing that it did it's job because we've never tested it on a human subject before!" Coran explained.

"So, it's like epinephrine?" Pidge asked.

"Er, I wouldn't exactly know but... most likely?"

Keith bowed his head and took a deep breath. "But what _happened?_ "

Shiro looked alarmed. "Did you not hear what we just said, Keith? Or do you not remember?"

"I heard what you guys said" Keith reassured. "I just mean why. How does someone suddenly die without warning? Am I sick or something?"

"I'm afraid we can't be sure. We performed some scans- "

"You _scanned_ me?"

"We just wanted to test for any illnesses that we could. We want to make sure you're okay, Keith" Shiro said.

"Yeah, you gave us a huge scare!" Hunk added.

Keith calmed himself. These people were not his enemy. It was something he'd probably always have to keep reminding himself of.

"What did the scans find?"

"Nothing!" Allura suddenly yelled. "We can't find anything! I was afraid of this ever since I realized that the lions chose young, inexperienced- "

"Hey!" Lance took offense.

" -paladins and thrust them into war. Any unimaginable event could befall anyone here and we have no way of knowing" Allura finished.

"But... we can't live our lives being afraid" Hunk put in his two cents. "Sure, anything could happen, but that's the same as it was on earth. If we never became paladins... well, we were all already training at the Garrison. If something like this was gonna happen it would have happened there instead of here."

And Keith would have died for real if his heart had spontaneously stopped while he was alone in his shack in the desert instead of in the Castle of Lions with their alien medicine. It was probably for the best that it happened here, Keith thought.

"Can I just. Be alone for a while? In my room?"

Coran stroked his mustache. "We really should monitor you for the next two quintants just to be- "

"I'll keep an eye on him" Shiro interrupted. "If that's alright with you, Keith?"

" ...Yeah. It's alright."

~

 

 

When Keith recovered just fine everyone could almost forget that it happened at all. Almost. Pidge still had nightmares about it, and when Keith realized it made him guilty.

After a few tough missions the team were able to relax for a few days. They had taken to sitting together in the lounge and... lounging. The large screen that faced the semi-circle sofa was perfect for binge-watching some rather interesting alien television series. As Hunk snored across from him Lance became engrossed in a soap opera starring a voluptuous blue alien princess. Keith wasn't as interested and was apparently also falling asleep next to him.

Lance missed a moment of the show when Keith's head plopped onto his shoulder. It wasn't really like Keith to be so physically close to anyone, but perhaps he was just that tired. Lance let it be.

Since it was getting late Lance's own body started to betray him. His eyes drooped as he fought to stay awake. Just before he fell into sleep he jerked awake. There was a strange gut feeling inside of him that something was wrong.

"Keith, dude, some personal space please" Lance muttered as he pushed Keith off of himself. The way Keith's pliant body spread across the couch when Lance moved him was... not right. At all.

"No" Lance whispered. He grabbed Keith's wrist to feel for a pulse. "NO! Not again! Oh, quiznak!"

Hunk sprang up. "Wha- what? What's wrong?"

With one look from Lance Hunk knew.

"Okay okay okay. Uh, Coran gave him that stuff to inject just in case. Where is it?"

"How should I know! Maybe it's on him... " Lance went to look in Keith's pants pockets but they were empty. Cursing again he tried the inside pockets of his red jacket. His fingers closed around something cylindrical. "Yes!"

Lance looked at the device. It looked like a pen with a button on top.

"I think we just jam it against his thigh and press the button" Hunk said.

Lance took a moment to wonder whether it needed to be against exposed skin or not before shrugging and putting it against Keith's pants. He pressed the button. The device twitched as it injected the drug right through the fabric. Keith's condition didn't seem to change.

Lance patted Keith's face. "Wake up! Come on!"

"We should tell Coran and Allura" Hunk said, then ran out the door, leaving Lance alone with Keith. Before Lance's panic got the best of him he felt again for a heartbeat and found one.

"Yeah! That's it!" He put a hand under Keith's nose to feel for a breath. There was none.

"Come on, _breathe,_ mullet-head!" Lance yelled, rubbing Keith's chest.

"What's going on in- " Pidge rushed through the door and her eyes widened like saucers. She was facing her worst nightmare, literally. But Keith soon took a hacking breath and coughed. Lance sighed in relief.

"I think he's okay." He held up the device as Keith caught his breath. "We used this thing. He's alive, see?"

Pidge approached the couch. Keith was out of it but clearly breathing. "How long was he... ?"

Lance looked away. "I don't know. We were just sitting there watching T.V. but... "

"You don't know?" Pidge asked in quiet fury.

"I mean, we were all starting to fall asleep. I thought he was asleep!"

The rest of the team ran into the room just in time to see Pidge slap Lance across the face. He stared at her in shock before touching where her hand made contact.

"He was _right next to you_ and you didn't notice?!"

He was worse than right next to him. He was laying _against_ him and went ignored. Lance never felt more like a jerk. "I'm sorry" he whispered.

Shiro forced the fight apart to fuss over Keith. Pidge stormed out while Lance just stared.

~

 

 

Pidge was tinkering with a computer when she heard footsteps behind her.

"I'm sorry" Keith said. Pidge looked up.

"What the quiznak have you got to be sorry for?"

"For giving you nightmares."

Pidge closed her eyes. "I've had nightmares for at least a year now. I know my family's out there somewhere, alive, but I still dream of finding their abandoned remains separated and dumped somewhere all alone."

She opened her eyes and looked into Keith's. "Sometimes I just can't handle the idea of losing anyone else. But none of what's happening with you is something we can help. It's not your fault."

But that was what everyone couldn't stand about this. In the end no one could control it, or predict it, and no one was to blame.

~

 

 

"I'm sorry" Lance blurted to Keith.

Keith sighed. "Lance, I don't need your pity."

"It's not pity! You were dying right next to me and I ignored you!"

"Or so Pidge said. Are you two still fighting?"

"Not exactly... we kind of made up."

"Great. Now as far as I'm concerned you saved my life. But fine, apologize if it'll clear your stupid conscience."

"You make it sound selfish when you word it like that."

"Lance McClain, selfish? Who would have guessed."

Lance snorted and bumped Keith's arm.

~

 

 

"Shiro, you can't be serious? You're kicking me out?"

"More like giving you a break. Look, Keith, you're an essential part of Voltron but- "

"But what? I'm fragile now? A liability?"

"Don't put words in my mouth! You have to think about this logically. You can't revive yourself, so how are we going to get to you if you're alone in your lion? What if it happens in battle? What if you don't... what if you don't even make it the next time?"

Keith growled.

Allura spoke up. "After your second attack it's obvious that it would be incredibly dangerous to you _and_ everyone else if it happens again while- "

"You keep saying 'if it happens again.' Have you considered the possibility of it _never_ happening again?"

"Have you considered the possibility of it continuing to happen? Maybe for the rest of your life?" Shiro asked.

Keith clenched his fists. "This isn't even about that anymore. You were just waiting to do this the whole time, weren't you?"

"I won't lie and say I wasn't considering it since the first time you collapsed" Allura admitted.

"No, I mean the _entire_ time I've been here. Since day 1. Just cut loose the only paladin who doesn't follow every single order and demand like a loyal servant."

"Hey. I know you're going through a lot right now so I understand how upset you are- " Shiro started.

"No. Forget it. I thought you were the only one in my life who could ever understand me but now I'm seriously starting to doubt that."

Keith ran off before Shiro could refute.

"Well that went well" Allura grumbled.

"I'm sure he understands where we're coming from. He's not stupid. He doesn't have a death wish and he doesn't want to put any of us in danger. But he's fighting with himself. This is all so much to take in at once."

Allura sighed. "I suppose. I'm concerned about him. But we can't let this set us back because we're fighting against a relentless foe and now we can't even form Voltron."

" ...What a mess."

~

 

 

Keith could only stand on the bridge and watch the rest of the paladins get pummeled.

"This isn't working!" Pidge shouted.

"We need to form Voltron!" Lance said uselessly.

"Well we can't, so no giving up!" Shiro ordered.

Keith looked away and held back tears.

"We could use some backup Allura, Coran."

"We're trying, Shiro. It's difficult to get to you in this debris" Allura answered.

Keith made his decision. He ran to the red lion's hangar.

"Don't, Keith!" Coran called.

"Just go after him, please!" Allura begged.

~

 

 

Keith finally got to Red. He was so focused on running to him as fast as possibly that he smacked headfirst into his honeycomb barrier.

"Ow" Keith muttered, rubbing his head. "Wait, what? Red, it's me! Let me in!"

Red rumbled lowly.

"Come on! Not you too! Don't _do_ this to me!" Keith banged his fists against the force field until he slid onto his knees, holding onto the barrier for dear life. The tears finally fell. Keith felt completely alone.

"Fine."

~

 

Allura paled when Coran returned to the bridge without Keith.

"It seems that the red lion has locked him out and he's taken a shuttle. I'm sorry, Allura."

~

 

 

Lance winced as Blue was hit with another blast. "She's not gonna last much longer!"

"Yellow's almost had it, too!"

The paladins saw a flash of white zip past them.

"That wasn't the castle, was it?" Lance asked.

"Of course not, it was way too small!" Pidge yelled as she narrowly avoided a laser that would have torn Green in half.

"Just hang on, I've got this covered!"

"KEITH?!" everyone yelled.

"Do you _want_ to die?!" Shiro screamed.

"Do you?" Keith asked. "Didn't think so. Just trust me!"

"We're _all_ gonna die" Lance moaned.

Keith managed to distract the enemy ship into blasting itself with it's own laser beam, just managing to slide past the beam himself. The lions finished off the damaged vessel easily after that.

"Yeah! Go team!" Lance whooped.

"That was too close, man" Hunk panted.

"We are going to have a _huge_ talk after this, but you did great, Keith."

"We couldn't have lasted without your help" Pidge agreed.

"Keith, tell me you're still there!" Allura demanded.

There was a markedly uncomfortable silence.

"Keith!" Coran and Shiro yelled at the same time. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance held their breath.

In a way so did Keith, but he couldn't help it as he lay motionless in the cockpit of his shuttle.

**Author's Note:**

> Probably will remain without an ending but I headcannon that they managed to rescue Keith at least. No permanent character death.


End file.
